By In a significant ruling, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has dealt a setback to Democrats attempting to limit the ballot options in the upcoming general election in hopes of protecting Kamala Harris.
Last week, Democrats filed a petition to block Green Party candidate Jill Stein and her running mate from appearing on the state’s ballot, arguing that the party’s lack of statewide offices or legislative candidates disqualified them from nominating presidential electors.
The petition, which aimed to remove Stein from the ballot before the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s August 27 deadline to certify candidates, reflects Democrats’ concerns that Stein could siphon votes from Vice President Kamala Harris in a crucial swing state.
Stein, who has long been viewed by some Democrats as a spoiler candidate, drew approximately 31,000 votes in Wisconsin during the 2016 election. That year, former President Donald Trump won Wisconsin by a margin of just 24,000 votes, flipping the state for the first time since 1992. Many Democrats blame Stein for contributing to their losses in key swing states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, where her vote totals exceeded Trump’s slim margins of victory.
The Washington Examiner reported that Adrienne Watson, a DNC spokeswoman, told Wisconsin Public Radio the dismissal was “disappointing.”
“The Wisconsin Green Party’s violation of the law is crystal clear,” Watson said in a statement. “WGP did not meet either of Wisconsin’s two simple requirements to nominate candidates, so it should not be on the ballot in November.”
Meanwhile, Republicans in the state were seemingly pleased with the ruling.
“For years, Democrats have silenced and disenfranchised Wisconsin voters by removing inconvenient candidates from the ballot,” Wisconsin GOP Chairman Brian Schimming said. “This time around, their undemocratic schemes have failed. If Democrats hope to win over voters, they will have to do so through earnest persuasion instead of disqualification.”
Wisconsin isn’t the only battleground state where Democrats are playing games with the ballot, hoping to maximize every possible advantage they can to drag Harris across the finish line. In Michigan, the Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson continues to reveal herself as a partisan rather than a servant of the people.
On Monday, Benson’s lackeys lost a court case that blocked the Michigan Bureau of Elections from removing independent candidate Cornel West from the ballot this November. The Associated Press reported that the “Court of Claims Judge James Robert Redford wrote in a decision released Saturday that West’s campaign submitted the proper number of signatures to qualify for the ballot and that presidential candidates are not required to file affidavits of identity. The ruling came after the Michigan Bureau of Elections informed West on Aug. 16 that he would not be certified because the affidavit of identity he submitted was not properly notarized.
Redford also rejected the state’s findings that West’s affidavit was incorrectly notarized.
West, a leftist academic, progressive activist and long-shot presidential candidate, is at the center of multiple legal and political battles as Democrats and Republicans seek to use the impacts of third-party candidates who could take support from their opponents. Republican allies in states such as Arizona have sought to keep West on the ballot amid Democratic fears he could siphon votes from Vice President Kamala Harris.
In Michigan, the state Democratic Party, Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and a voter backed by a Democratic-aligned political action committee had challenged West’s candidacy.”
One day later, Benson did the exact opposite of what she tried to do for West, revealing she has no principle about ballot access outside of what benefits her party. On Tuesday, the Secretary of State announced that she would not fulfill Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request to remove himself from the ballot in the battleground state.
Last Friday, the independent candidate announced he was dropping out and backing Donald Trump for president.
“Minor party candidates cannot withdraw, so his name will remain on the ballot,” Benson spokeswoman Cheri Hardmon said Friday in an email to The Detroit News.
Election officials in Nevada and Wisconsin—two other battleground states controlled by Democrats— have also claimed it was too late for Kennedy to get his name taken off the general election ballot.
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